[JURIST] In Tuesday's corporations and securities law news, a PeopleSoft director indicates the company's board is prepared to negotiate a deal with Oracle Corp. in which the price of takeover would be above the current $7.7 billion offer. Read more about Oracle's hostile takeover bid of PeopleSoft here. AP has more.

In other news...

US and Canadian officials announced the signing of an accord designed to bolster the process by which the countries will refer cases of anticompetitive behavior to each other's authorities. Read the Department of Justice press release announcing the move here. Read the Federal Trade Commission press release here. Read the Competition Bureau of Canada press release here. AFP has more.

As previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, in the first indictments from the massive fraud scandal at dairy giant Parmalat, an Italian judge has ordered two former Grant Thornton auditors to stand trial for false accounting and market rigging. BBC has compiled a list of people targeted by prosecutors in the Parmalat scandal. AP has more.

As previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, Larry Stewart, a US Secret Service ink expert on trial relating to charges that he falsely testified about his role in the Martha Stewart investigation, was found not guilty on Tuesday. Read the indictment against Stewart here [PDF]. JURIST's Paper Chase has background on the Martha Stewart case. AP has more.... As previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, Timothy Despain, a former assistant treasurer with Enron, was arraigned Tuesday on conspiracy charges and is expected to plead guilty to the charges. Despain is expected testify against other Enron executive in exchange for immunity from the charges. JURIST's Paper Chase has ongoing coverage of the Enron case. The Houston Business Journal has more.

US antitrust authorities announced they would not pursue any action in the proposed merger between Canadian brewer Molson, Inc. and American Adolph Coors Co. Molson has a tentative timetable for the merger here. Reuters has more.

About Paper Chase

Paper Chase is JURIST's real-time legal news service, powered by a team of 30 law student reporters and editors led by law professor Bernard Hibbitts at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. As an educational service, Paper Chase is dedicated to presenting important legal news and materials rapidly, objectively and intelligibly in an accessible format.